The Institute for Energy Securities wants the Electricity Company of Ghana to immediately resolve issues with prepaid card meters and billings.
According to the IES, it has noted with concern the recent widespread challenges being experienced by the pre-paid customers of the ECG.
In this case, customers who have pre-financed the use of electricity at a later time, are having their electricity credits being converted to debits, adding “the more a customer buys power to be used, the more the customer owes the ECG, resulting in many homes and workplaces being disconnected.”
Furthermore, it said “the failure to pay for the wrong billing and have power supplied within a certain period also delays the power restoration, even when additional purchases have been made.”
At this point, the IES said it takes Field Technicians of the ECG to go to homes and other outlets to reset meters before power can be restored, stressing that “many a time, it takes hours and days to have customers attended to and power restored.”
These challenges it emphasized are cropping up at a time when the need for reliable and consistent power- supply is paramount.
“At this season, the need for power is vital for purposes of security, productivity, events and more importantly during Christmas and New year where families will stay at home.”
The IES is therefore urging the Minister of Energy as a matter of urgency to direct the ECG to fix these challenges which are greatly inconveniencing legitimate customers of the ECG.